The book ‘The Gentle Subversive’ by Mark Hamilton is dedicated to the disclosure of Rachel Carson’s life, illustrating the road leading to the creation of influential work ‘Silent Spring’.
Hamilton managed to explore the evolution of developed Carson’s ideas as to nature, her devotion to the sea, and her description of the career as a biologist; the author managed to reflect the formation of her career as a writer with an extraordinary ecological and moral vision.
Instance 1. The first part of the book gives an opportunity to investigate the childhood of the writer being spent within the farm of Pittsburgh, which helped her to find her real love for nature; it is necessary to underline the fact that at this very period, she managed to make her first publishing to one local magazine. Hamilton depicts the genesis of the first book called ‘Under a Sea Wind’ and the successful publication of ‘The Sea around Us’; at this very moment, the author gives us an understanding of the next author’s publication ‘Silent Spring’. It should be stressed that the book was considered to be perceived as a ‘poison work’ through aggressive campaigns and subversive thinking against pesticides. The facts disclosed by Hamilton depicted childhood giving an opportunity to understand the nature and intention of her future book.
“Rachel recalled that she had been “happiest with wild birds and creatures as companions”
Her early interests in nature and the environment left a print in creating her future works; her first books were dedicated to the illustration of animals and the wild world.
“…each page of the gifted book contained a drawing of an animal with an accompanying verse”
Instance 2. The second book dedicated to the disclosure of ‘Silent Spring’ underlines the nature and intention of the author directed at human protection. Her love for animals reflected in early childhood turned to be described through nature and protection of all living from hazardous impact. The work is considered to be a well-organized, documented account disclosing the poisoning of nature and the whole planet by human beings with various toxic chemicals and eloquent plea in order to restore the delicate natural balance.
“…among the herbicides are some that are classified as “mutagens”, or agents capable of modifying the genes, the materials of heredity.”
“We are rightly appalled by the genetic effects of radiation; how then, can we be indifferent to the same effect in chemicals that we disseminate widely in our environment?”
It is necessary to stress that intensive use of synthetic pesticides was not connected with the rational scientific application; nevertheless, the allies of the chemical industry expressed attempts to demonstrate the mistakes made by Carson, and as a result, the research conducted by Carson was under the test.